How will the Twitter Ad API affect you?

The hot news in social media these days is all about social media sites offering ad APIs, and this time it's the Twitter ad API.  Twitter has announced the launch of an ad API, similar to competitors Facebook and LinkedIn.

So, what's the big deal?

According to Twitter's Michael Sippey in a post last fall, major changes are coming in how Twitter information can be accessed by ad programs.  These changes are intended to prevent malicious use of Twitter data and to allow Twitter to better understand what types of apps are accessing the API.  Mr. Sippey explained that Twitter wants to help users advertise to a more targeted audience.

What changes are coming?

Authentication:  All program developers will have to use a program called OAuth to identify themselves before accessing public information from the Twitter ad API.

Per-Endpoint Rate Limiting:  According to Sippey, under the Twitter ad API, applications that use multiple endpoints will run into rate limiting issues less frequently, which will protect Twitter from abusive applications. Most apps will be limited to 60 calls per hour per endpoint; however, Twitter will allow high-volume endpoints related to Tweet display, profile display, user lookup and user search (which are the stats most SEO programs are accessing), where apps will be able to make up to 720 calls per hour per endpoint.

Changes to Developer Rules of the Road:  In order to implement the Twitter Ad API, developers will face several changes in the rules:

• The current Display "Guidelines" will become Display "Requirements," a stricter standard.
• All programs displaying Tweets will be required to scale the display so Tweets look the same across all platforms (i.e., website and mobile displays).
• Programs will have to display all Tweet actions (i.e., retweet, reply and favorites).
• All apps preinstalled on programs must be certified by Twitter.  Because they can be loaded on the program months or even years before they go to market, programs often are not up-to-date when purchased by consumers.  This requirement will ensure all users experience the same display quality and options.
• Developers who use more than 1 million user tokens will have to work directly with Twitter.  Sippey says this will allow Twitter to guide them toward more targeted areas of value for users and their business.

Migration period.  Developers will have six months to migrate apps from version 1.0 to version 1.1, when everyone will be required to use OAuth.

The test programs have experienced an average increase in advertising revenues of approximately 60 percent.  This increase is attributed to the more targeted advertising and the ability to create dozens of campaigns simultaneously instead of Twitter's previous method of manually, one at a time.

Do not be deceived, though.  Twitter may be trying to make its user experience better, but the Ad API will also bring a surge of ad revenue to Twitter. Social media advertising is attracting marketing dollars.  It provides a combination of scale and targeting to ads, which performed 2.5 times better on Twitter since it began beta testing than ads on other online channels.

Keeping up with the rapidly changing world of social media marketing can be overwhelming, and we know that your time is so  much more valuable running your business.

Why not let the team at Pro PR Marketing do what we do best:  Help you "make more while working less"!